Homemade Applesauce
The apple harvest is plentiful this year so we are making applesauce! Tailoring the sweetness, tartness, and spice levels to your personal taste is always a bonus when making your own.
Servings 32
Ingredients
- 12 lbs apples
- 1/2 cup bottled lemon juice, divided
- 1-3 cups granulated sugar, if using to taste
Instructions
- Prepare water bath canner, about 8 pint jars & lids
- Mix 1/4 cup lemon juice with 4 cups water in a large bowl and set aside. This will be used to treat the apples for browning.
- Wash, destem and quarter apples. Place in lemon water.
- After a few minutes, remove the apples from the lemon water and place in a stainless steel pot (I used an 8 quart). Barely cover apples with water.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat and boil gently until apples are just fork tender (about 8-10 min). Using a slotted spoon or spider scoop, remove the apples from the water and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Transfer apples to a food mill, working in batches. The food mill will remove the skins, cores and seeds and you’ll be left with a nice apple puree.
- Place your apple puree back in stainless steel saucepan. At this time, you can add sugar, if you are using it. (I do not use additional sugar)Add the remaining 1/4 cup of lemon juice to the apple puree. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Make sure to stir frequently to keep the applesauce from burning or sticking. Reduce heat to simmer and prepare to fill jars with the simmering sauce.
- Ladle hot applesauce into your pint jars, leaving 1/2″ headspace. Remove any air bubbles. Add/remove applesauce to reach 1/2″ headspace.Wipe rims with a clean towel moistened with a little vinegar. Center lid on jar and add ring. Screw down to finger-tip tight.
- Place jars in water bath canner and cover with at least 1″ of water. Bring to boil. Process pints for 20 minutes.
- Once the 20 minute processing time is up, turn off heat, remove lid and wait 5 minutes. Remove jars, cool for 16-24 hours.
- Remove bands after cooled and wipe jars to ensure there is no residue on them before storing them.
Notes
I find that additional sugar is not needed - primarily due to the variety of apples that we grow being so sweet already. If you want to use sugar, start with 1/2 cup and build from there to taste - exceeding 3 cups of sugar for this recipe is not recommended.
Remember to label your jars with the contents and the date!